{"id":5818,"date":"2018-01-29T13:55:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T18:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/?p=5818"},"modified":"2018-02-05T10:48:02","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T15:48:02","slug":"city-air-makes-you-free-a-public-health-case-for-sanctuary-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/city-air-makes-you-free-a-public-health-case-for-sanctuary-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"City Air Makes You Free. A Public Health Case for Sanctuary Cities."},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is extracted (with permission) from an article first published in hasselbloger.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the printed edition of the Courier-Journal on January 25, a letter-writer contributed the following:<\/p>\n

‘Dignity of Labor’ to get healthcare is wrong.
\nAccording to your report of Jan\/ 13, Gov. Bevin wants to change Medicaid requirements to enable the “able bodied” poor to learn the “dignity of labor.” It was a teaching of the Nazis that “Arbeit macht frei.”<\/em> \u00a0The similarity between these two simplistic positions is too dangerous to ignore. \u00a0Stephen Schuster, Louisville.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Based on reflection over the past two years, I do not deem Mr. Schuster’s reaction to be overblown. \u00a0I submitted my own letter in response, but it appears that it was not accepted. Having my own “barrel of ink,” I publish it below.<\/p>\n

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Dear Courier Journal.<\/strong>
\nA recent correspondent to these letters drew uncomfortable attention to a similarity of phrasing used by Gov. Matthew Bevin and the German Nazis.\u00a0 To obscure an ultimate goal of decreasing Medicaid enrollment, he and other governors would require “able-bodied” beneficiaries to either work or provide compulsory volunteerism [an oxymoron?] under the dissembling cover of gifting the poor with the ability to learn “the dignity of labor.”\u00a0 Mr. Schuster and I were both reminded of the phrase Arbeit macht frei<\/i> (Work sets you free) posted by the Nazis at the entrances to their Arbeitslager<\/i> (labor camps) which evolved into the death camps of Europe.<\/p>\n

A much older German phrase entered my mind as President Trump and his acolytes scold and sue cities like Louisville for protecting their inhabitants born under other suns.\u00a0 Stadtluft macht frei\u00a0<\/i> (City air makes you free.) expresses a centuries-old common law concept of medieval Europe whereby slaves, serfs, or peasants who entered a self-governing city were protected against involuntary repatriation to the rural countryside or servitude by their owners or landlords.\u00a0 Remaining in such a city for a defined period ruptured the physical and economic bondage of structural rural poverty. Those so sheltered could become B\u00fcrger<\/i>, or citizens.\u00a0 Cities were places of opportunity!\u00a0 The concept of a path to citizenship in a sanctuary city has a long and honorable history.<\/p>\n

In the late 19th century, the abstraction of Stadtluft<\/i> was still being used to summarize the motivation of rural Germans wishing to escape the tyranny of their birthplace, their legitimacy, their institutionalized poverty, or limits imposed on their occupations and ability to make a living.\u00a0 I am proud of the leadership in Louisville and similar cities which protects those living in their jurisdiction against the unleashing of the most ignoble of nationalistic urges.\u00a0 Louisville should not reopen its workhouse of the early 20th century.<\/p>\n

Peter Hasselbacher
\nLouisville
\n29 January 2018<\/p>\n

Addendum:
\nI take the liberty of reposting this larger part of my other article in this health policy blog because I believe it is relevant. \u00a0Individuals who in the current climate of immigration stings and deportation\u00a0may be justifiably afraid to respond to demands of “show me your papers,” will correspondingly \u00a0be much less likely to seek medical care when they are sick. \u00a0This is not good for anyone! \u00a0As a people, we are no healthier than the sickest among us\u2013 regardless of place of birth.<\/p>\n

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